With more daylight, an easing of outdoor worship, and Easter a week away, there’s a feeling of hope in the air.
On the other hand, the pandemic rollercoaster of the past year has delivered more than its share of ups and downs. We have no idea if tomorrow’s weather, or Bonnie Henry press conference, will leave us feeling like we’re in an exodus from darkness or taking another step toward a dystopia.
Temporary measures to “flatten the curve” have evolved into added regulations to accommodate outbreaks, variants, developing science, or changes of season, with the media exhibiting its penchant for acting more like government cheerleaders than skeptics.
The first question I heard a reporter ask a year ago when the government imposed restrictions on businesses was, “Why are liquor stores allowed to remain open?”
It wasn’t a one-off query. Others also asked questions of a “do you think you’re being strict enough?” variety, wondering why certain establishments weren’t being closed.
Fast forward to Bonnie Henry’s press conference this week and the first question from a reporter after the latest case count was, “what are the consequences … that you can further impose to try to make people get this message, because it doesn’t seem to be working right now.”
Needless to say, the reopening of churches is not a government or media priority. Neither is thorough discussion of controversial subjects like COVID passports or vaccines during pregnancy or after testing positive for COVID. Neither are the jobless numbers, or business closings, or suicides, or assisted suicides, or mental health hotline calls, or nursing home deaths by all causes, particularly among shut-in elderly, compared with previous years. None of these merits a weekly press conference.
It’s understandable why so many people are experiencing such pain at this time. In his 1948 Pulitzer-Prize-winning poem The Age of Anxiety, W.H. Auden addressed the human condition and our need for tradition, belief, and other people in a world of change, disbelief, and isolation.
It may seem like we’re living in a modern-day age of anxiety, but we’re not.
It’s important to remember that as Christians approaching Easter, Jesus through his Resurrection has delivered us to a permanent time of hope.
What a blessing it is that his hope doesn’t rely on government, media, or events of the day.
